“Behind the board fence at the banker’s house
The slender, tawn-gray creature starves and thirsts
In agony of fear. A dog may growl,
It cowers; the cockcrow shakes it with alarm.
White frost lay heavy on the buffalo grass
That winter morning when three graceful shapes
Slipped by the saddle-back across the ridge
Along the rutted pathway to the creek.
In former years the track was bare, and worn
With feet of upland creatures every day.
A boy spied these three outlaws. Two hours’ chase,
Fifty pursuers, and the ways all stopped,-
Guns, dogs, and fences. Torn by the barbed wire,
Drilled by a dozen buckshot, one; the next,
O’erheaped by snapping jaws, cried piteously
An instant; but the last on treacherous ice
Crashed through, a captive.
Ropes-the jolting wagon-
Its heart was audible as you touched its fur.
Behind the board fence at the banker’s house,-
O, once it capered wild on dewy grass
In grace and glee of dancing, arrowy bounds!-
At the banker’s house, behind the high board fence
The last slim pronghorn perishes of fear.
(Edwin Ford Piper)”
More Poetry from dwin Ford Piper):
dwin Ford Piper) Poems based on Topics: Dogs, Sadness, Cry, Fear, Dancing- The Driver (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- In The Canyon (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- The Claim Jumper (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- The Party (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- The Well (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- The Ridge Farm (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Sadness Poems, Cry Poems, Fear Poems, Dancing Poems, Dogs PoemsBased on Keywords: drilled, perishes, pursuers, cowers, rutted, arrowy, cockcrow, piteously, starves, thirsts, jolting